MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines’ Jessie Lacuna continued to make waves as he topped the 200-m freestyle event in the 16-year-old category in the New South Wales Swim meet in Australia recently.
Lacuna turned in a one-minute, 52.51-second clocking in ruling the same event which Australian Olympic gold medalist Ian Thorpe topped when he was of the same age, according to aquatics chief Mark Joseph.
At the same time, Lacuna, a product of the Palarong Pambansa and the Philippine Olympic Festival, erased the Youth Olympic Games qualifying mark of 1:52.53 in the event for the second straight time.
Lacuna broke the mark last December when he bagged a silver medal in the Laos Southeast Asian Games.
“He is the New South Wales Australian champion for 16-year-old boys,” said Joseph in a text message.
“Lacuna clipped the YOG qualifying cut in this event for the second time now,” said Joseph, adding that the former NSW champ in the event included Thorpe. – Joey Villar